Padraic O'Farrell gathered a rich harvest of wise sayings from the Irish countryside, the lips of great men – such as Shaw, Wilde, Synge and Swift – and the unspoilt fount of Irish folklore and legend. Whenever Irish people congregate, however long removed from a rural environment, gems of wisdom are to be heard in their conversation.

This appealing new hardback edition will be popular with tourists and locals alike, who are looking for a pithy statement such as:

* The wrath of God has nothing on the wrath of an Irishman outbid for land, a horse or a woman.

* A hair on the head is worth two on the brush.

* The family that has no skeleton in the cupboard has buried it instead.

* Dead men tell no tales but there's many a thing learned in a wake-house.

* Put an Irishman on a spit and you'll soon have two Irish men turning him.